ga-crop-weather State Georgia Crop Weather Week Ending Date July 21, 2008 Issue GA-CW2908 Agricultural Summary July 21, 2008 ISOLATED SHOWERS Isolated showers were greatly needed and extremely beneficial, according to the USDA, NASS, Georgia Field Office. Daily average high temperatures fluctuated between the high 80's and low 90's. Average lows were in the high 60's most of week. Soil moisture conditions were rated at 17% very short, 39% short, 43% adequate, and 1% surplus. Scattered rain helped improve corn, hay and soybean conditions, in some counties. Pasture and hayfield conditions improved slightly due to rains. A high number of Tobacco budworms have been spotted in peanuts. Farmers expect more insects problems to arise in other crops. Drought conditions are still prevalent in areas of the state. Other activities included irrigating crops, as needed, and gaining control of insect populations. County Extension Agents reported an average of 6.2 days suitable for fieldwork. Crop Progress for Week Ending 07/20/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Stage : This Week : Prev Week : Prev Year : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn Silked : 98 96 95 97 Corn Dough : 81 70 80 84 Corn Dent : 52 33 50 52 Corn Mature : 6 1 10 12 Soybeans Emerged : 96 93 99 99 Soybeans Blooming : 38 23 25 41 Soybeans Setting Pods : 8 3 6 15 Sorghum Planted : 93 88 95 97 Cotton Squaring : 87 80 75 90 Cotton Setting Bolls : 52 34 34 57 Peaches Harvested : 69 58 82 72 Peanuts Blooming : 93 87 82 93 Peanuts Pegging : 72 58 72 79 Tobacco Harvested : 18 11 22 26 Watermelons Harvested : 90 83 89 89 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition for Week Ending 07/20/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop :Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good :Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn : 7 17 32 36 8 Soybeans : 5 17 48 28 2 Sorghum : 3 11 45 40 1 Cotton : 3 11 39 39 8 Range and Pasture : 13 23 41 22 1 Apples : 0 1 19 23 57 Hay : 12 26 41 20 1 Peanuts : 1 7 32 49 11 Pecans : 0 9 44 41 6 Tobacco : 0 5 31 48 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 07/20/08 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This Week :Previous Week : 5 Year Avg -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Very Short : 17 18 12 Short : 39 34 24 Adequate : 43 44 51 Surplus : 1 4 12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topsoil Moisture for Week Ending 07/20/08, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Short : Short : Adequate : Surplus -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 23 36 39 2 District 2 (NC) : 10 50 40 0 District 3 (NE) : 33 41 26 0 District 4 (WC) : 20 50 30 0 District 5 (C) : 24 48 28 0 District 6 (EC) : 26 31 43 0 District 7 (SW) : 10 37 48 5 District 8 (SC) : 9 35 54 2 District 9 (SE) : 2 26 71 1 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf. Pasture Condition for Week Ending 07/20/08, by District -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- District : Very Poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : District 1 (NW) : 5 12 48 35 0 District 2 (NC) : 0 25 47 27 1 District 3 (NE) : 39 25 27 8 1 District 4 (WC) : 10 37 47 6 0 District 5 (C) : 16 32 45 7 0 District 6 (EC) : 20 31 29 20 0 District 7 (SW) : 10 16 36 35 3 District 8 (SC) : 6 15 40 36 3 District 9 (SE) : 0 9 54 37 0 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * A list of the counties in each of the nine Georgia Agricultural Statistics Districts is available at http://www.nass.usda.gov/ga/ctyests/districts.pdf. Weather Summary for Week Ending 07/20/08, by Station Location ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Temperature : Precipitation : Location :-----------------:---------------------------------------:Soil : Max : Min : Avg :Weekly : Days :30 Day :60 Day : Season :Temp ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Weather data are not available for the week ending 7/20/2008 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *Weather data are supplied by the Georgia Automated Environmental Monitoring Network (AEMN) and the office of the State Climatologist, University of Georgia. For detailed Georgia weather data, visit the AEMN homepage at www.georgiaweather.net. DISTRICT COMMENTS July 20, 2008 DISTRICT 1 - NORTHWEST Last weekend we received from 1.5 to 2 inches of slow steady rains. They were greatly needed and extremely beneficial. It has come at a good time for corn and soybean production, and another hay crop. Next chance for rains is first of next week. DISTRICT 2 - NORTH CENTRAL No comments available. DISTRICT 3 - NORTHEAST No comments available. DISTRICT 4 - WEST CENTRAL Long, hot, dry week was only tolerable due to fairly good rain 7/13 with over an inch received by most. Little hay put up thus far, mostly clean up cuts on Bermuda, cool season hay yield average less than 1 ton per acre. Reports of armyworms in Bermuda grass starts this week. Grazing is short; hay still being fed; weeds getting worse in thinning pastures. DISTRICT 5 - CENTRAL Pasture and hayfield conditions improving slightly due to rains. Despite getting around 4.05 inches of rainfall since July 1 we are still in need of rainfall. Much of our planting has slowly taken place and we hoping that we can get additional rainfall to push things along. Still remains dry. Battling weeds in row crops. Haying slowing. DISTRICT 6 - EAST CENTRAL Scattered rains helped improve conditions. Need more rain for continued improvements. Have seen high numbers of tobacco budworm in peanuts early in season. Expect more problems in other crops. Getting showers but intense heat is cancelling out the rain. Spraying weeds in soybeans and corn is getting very close to maturity as heat continues to dry it down early. Dry land corn, if it wasn't already a loss, certainly is now. Peanuts continue to hang in there and a lot of cotton is in full bloom.....rain expected in the middle of the week and this is the critical time to get it. Two things for sure......dry land farming is ultra risky and one quart of glyphosate for controlling weeds is history! However, we still have clean fields where corn has been rotated and the atrazine has kept pigweed population at a low level. DISTRICT 7 - SOUTHWEST No comments available. DISTRICT 8 - SOUTH CENTRAL The rains have continued during this reporting period . The crops have responded great to water and grower inputs. Crop insect damage control is at the top of the list in farm activities. Drought conditions are still prevalent in certain areas of the county. DISTRICT 9 - SOUTHEAST No comments available.